I am reminded every day that my field is changing.

I am taught the average person reads a newspaper for less than 22 minutes. I am shown that waiting for the paper boy to throw the news at your doorstep is becoming obsolete.

Newspapers are going online and building the 24-hour mindset. Podcasts, blogs, videos and soundslides are taking journalism by storm. Fewer and fewer people check their newspapers for stories when they can go online to get the latest.

Reporters no longer just report the news. Just ask Detroit News columnist Terry Foster, who spoke of these transitions last week at the journalism awards banquet. Foster has expanded into blogging and radio, and has tried to create an Internet sports network.

It is encouraging to see our journalism department act on this. It is looking to implement an online journalism major, led by JRN 445: Multimedia Reporting, that will teach journalists the techniques that will help them survive in a competitive field.

Unfortunately, there is a road block – the School of Broadcast and Cinematic Arts, the school that we practically call our neighbors.

Why? Because BCA does not want JRN to “impede on its turf.” It does not want JRN classes to teach some of the concepts that could be taught in BCA classes, such as audio and video production techniques.

For what the BCA department is lacking – modern classroom equipment, for one – it certainly makes up for in pride.

Broadcast and cinematic arts instructor Patty Williamson claimed Tuesday the JRN 445 curriculum is too similar to BCA 223: Video Production. As someone who took that class last semester, I can say that assessment is wrong. I was taught how to hold a video camera, how to use lighting, sound and video techniques to my advantage when taping for a broadcast and how to work with a production team on a news set.

For a broadcast major, that might be good experience. For me, a journalism major, barely. I was taught very little on how to use these techniques for actual reporting. We never even had the opportunity to shoot video in the field.

Our multimedia editor at Central Michigan Life works with Final Cut Pro to put together video. In BCA 223, the only experience you have with a computer is to put text on a screen during a news production. That’s it.

Do some of the subjects in BCA 223 and JRN 445 overlap? Sure they do. But there is a reason I know everything there is to know about font styles and graphic design guidelines – because I learned each of them in three or four different classes for my minor.

BCA would like to see JRN students take their classes to learn this multimedia knowledge. Even if it did provide that knowledge, most JRN students cannot fit BCA classes into their four- or five-year plans.

Therefore, a message to the School of Broadcast and Cinematic Arts – leave the journalism department alone. Worry about doing what is best for your students.

Don’t let your pride be a detriment to our future careers as journalists.

E-mail the author: defaultuser